We preview this Sunday’s Senior hurling decider
Carley says Bray must match Carnew’s hunger in final
BRAY EMMETS manager Paul Carley is fully aware of what’s coming down the tracks when he sends his players out to face Carnew Emmets in the county final as they look defend a title won so convincingly this time last year.
Carley and Bray Emmets seem to be the perfect fit. Calm and collected, not prone to panic and possessing a clinical approach to looking at games and opposition to discover the best way to break them down and hurt them on the scoreboard.
Last year’s county final and all their games to date in 2020 apart from the Glenealy game where they were left stunned by the hunger of the Reds have shown that this Bray team are a very serious outfit, possessing naturally talented hurlers all over the field.
The Glenealy game was a shock to all hurling people in Wicklow. And not in a disrespectful sense, but very few fancied Glenealy to do what they did, and, perhaps, that is the best time for a team to do such a thing. And Glenealy have the potential to do just that to any team, at any time.
We caught up with Paul Carley earlier in the week ahead of the big showdown on Sunday in Aughrim and we started by asking him about the lockdown and that Glenealy game.
‘Came back in February. We were back three weeks before we played the first Dublin league
game. Things were going decently. We had one win and a draw in the Dublin league before everything was locked down. Then it was a case of whether to decide to keep lads going or give them a complete break and we just said that we’d give them a break, because at that stage it
looked like there was going to be no GAA. And even when it looked promising, lads were eager to get back two or three weeks early and I just said, ‘look, leave it. We know when we’re playing and we’ll have enough time to get right when we go back officially.
‘From there then it was just a case of getting everyone back, seeing where they were at and building it up from there. I thought we were going really well going into the Glenealy game, but obviously not.
‘They worked really hard. I think we kind of came back in a frame of mind that we were going to beat Glenealy because we had last year. And as much as you tell lads, ‘look, that’s not going to happen,’ it doesn’t matter. When you start a game in the mindset, it’s very hard to get out of it.
‘In fairness to Glenealy that day, they completely outworked us. I wouldn’t say it was the most attractive hurling match but when it came down to it, they dug deeper than we did. And I think that having the safety net of another two games didn’t really drive our lads on.
But, look, we learned a huge amount from that. I think if we didn’t lose that match and got over it by a point or two, I don’t think we’d be in a county final. When you come off a good year you just get through games, you don’t learn as much. If we had got over that game by two points, you’d be saying we’ll do better the next day and that just doesn’t happen. You need a wakeup call. And that’s not taking away from Glenealy. On the day they deserved to beat us 100 per cent. But we asked a lot of questions of ourselves after that
game. We’ve gradually got better but we still have improving to do.
‘There was a lot of soul searching for two weeks. We asked questions of ourselves as a management team, the players asked questions. I thought we had built up a decent structure last year and we weren’t going to let one game undo it all. A lot of hard questions were asked, we’ve answered a lot of them but not all of them yet,’ he added.
From there they faced Éire Óg, Avondale and St Patrick’s with each game throwing up plenty of different challenges.
‘We went into the two weeks to prepare for Éire Óg and we knew they were going well, much better than last year. They’re probably the best team we’ve played yet this year. That’s not taking away from Pat’s or any other team. I just thought they were very well set up. They probably should have been ahead of us at half-time, but they just weren’t clinical enough on the day and we got out of it in the end, we had a good last 15 minutes.
‘We played them last year in Wicklow town and they were poor from the start. I just thought that this year they were much better, much more structured, they did a lot of good hurling, just not clinical in our half. We made a few changes in the last 15 minutes, and, in fairness, our young lads just opened up and I think we won it by nine points.
‘We had made improvements ahead of the Avondale game. They were still in the football and they were more or less gone out of the hurling so they weren’t as focused as we thought they would have been.
‘And Pat’s are Pat’s. It’s always going to be a massive battle. We decided to play against the wind and we said we’d dig in and see what happens. We went in in a comfortable enough position at half-time. Then the game opened up and our lads opened up and they hurled really well. They’re great lads for sticking to what you ask them to do. In the first game (against Glenealy) they would have asked questions about how we set up and what we were doing. I just told them to stick to what we are doing. We came in at half-time, we didn’t panic even though we were a point down. We knew we had the wind and we hadn’t hurled as well as we could. And when they got moving and used the ball well, they were very good,’ said Paul Carley.
The arrival of Eoin McCormack in the second half was a significant moment with the talented attacker bagging 1-1 and getting heavily involved in the 1-22 to 1-13 victory. Having players like McCormack to come off the bench is a massive asset to Bray Emmets.
‘He was excellent. Eoin was excellent. He came on for 20 minutes and he was brilliant. He won the first catch; he won a free off that. Made a lot of plays and got a great goal. He has huge talent,’ said Carley.
Ahead of them is Carnew Emmets. Managed by Mount Leinster Rangers and Carlow legend James Hickey and possessing a glut of young players just up out of Minor. Paul Carley understands the history and knows full well the challenge that is coming and the key players they need to look out for.
‘We’re confident we will (get things right on Sunday) but you just don’t know. I’ve played Carnew three times (as Bray manager). There was a draw, we beat them once and tjhey beat us. My first year here we drew with them and they bet us. And last year it was nip and tuck until they had a lad sent off and then we ran away with it.
‘They’re going to be very hard to beat. They’ve very fit and very strong. They’re work rate is phenomenal and they’ve got some young lads this year who are really stepping up to the mark. They’ve had some big wins. Beating Pat’s in the first round was a big win. I know people might look at the Kiltegan game but Kiltegan are another team who have improved massively.
‘I’ll tell you at 6pm on Sunday whether we’ve reached our standards or not,’ he said.
‘Having watched Jack Doyle for the last three years, I think he’s one of the best hurlers in Wicklow. Depends on how they use him. They seem to be using him around midfield and drifting back. He’s a massive threat all the time and I think he’s so comfortable on the ball. He pulls all the strings; he makes everything tick for them.
‘You’ve Donohoe (Enda) inside, lethal from play and from frees. You could go through all the team but I think they’re honesty and how hard they work, it’s very hard to beat that. If you don’t match that you won’t beat them. You can have 15 brilliant hurlers, but if you’re not willing to dig in and work as hard as Carnew do then you’ll find it very hard to beat them,’ he said.
The Bray boss has huge respect for the Carnew manager and the energy he brings to the sideline.
‘James is massively enthusiastic. He’s been there and done that with Mount Leinster. He knows what it takes at this level, what needs to be done. You see him on the line, he’s so energetic. He just drives the lads on. I understand 100 per cent where he’s coming from. There are times when you just have to keep that level of enthusiasm going on the line because some players switch off. I think he’s a great lad to be on the line with. You have your arguments but after the game you just get on with it,’ he added.
To his own team then and his decision to stay with the talented Marc Lennon as captain after the tremendous job he did in 2019.
‘Marc is great. What I like about Marc is that he’s a dual player but he never misses a hurling session. If we have a match and he can’t play he’s still at the match. It’s that honesty, having a lad around all the time. There are many candidates on the team but he carried himself so well last year, he led by example, had a great year on the pitch and off the pitch.
‘He’s a great influence. I tell the lads all the time that every young lad in the club looks up to you, you mightn’t think it but you’re their heroes, and Marc is a lad who leads by example and what you want is a role model and he’s certainly that,’ said Paul.
There are so many intriguing elements to the county final on Sunday.
From the middle third battle to whether or not the Carnew forwards can cause enough damage to whether Bray can pull away in the second half like they’ve done in every game since the Glenealy game. Paul Carley sees the first 15 minutes as the key phase.
‘The first 20 minutes is going to be hectic. Both teams will meet fire with fire.
‘It’s whoever works the hardest in that first 20 minutes and is in a good position after it. You could get to the end of that 20 minutes and it could be level. It’s the first 15, the water break takes the 20 out of it. It’s the first 15, both teams are going to come thinking they can win it, and it’s whoever can work harder.
‘I find people are always looking for game plans and systems and how we’re going to do this and how we’re going to do that. They all go out the window if you don’t work.
‘You can be guaranteed that Carnew will bring that work-rate. It’s whether we can bring it to match it is the question,’ he added.